Mentalrobics™

You exercise your body to stay physically in shape, so why shouldn't you exercise your brain to stay mentally fit? With these daily exercises you will learn how to flex your mind, improve your creativity and boost your memory. As with any exercise, repetition is necessary for you to see improvement, so pick your favorite exercises from our daily suggestions and repeat them as desired. Try to do some mentalrobics every single day!

The Phonetic Mnemonic System is one of the most useful systems for helping you memorize facts. Here are some sample facts that you can easily memorize using this system.

1. The tallest building in the world is Taipei 101, in Taiwan. It is 509 meters tall. Using the phonetic system, the number 509 translates to 'lazy boy'. Picture a lazyboy chair balanced on the spire sticking out of the top of the building, or picture a very lazy boy taking a week to walk up the stairs to the top. Now, you can easily remember the height of the building.

2. On the periodic table, iron (Fe) has an atomic number of 26 which has the phonetic word of 'notch'. Picture yourself trying to iron your clothes using an iron with a big notch cut into it.

3. The speed of sound is 340 meters per second. The phonetic keyword for 340 is 'Mars'. Think up your own association between 'sound' and 'Mars' to remember this fact.

4. World War II started in 1939. You can use any of the following keywords: Top Mop, Tie Pump or if you ignore the century you can simply use 'map'. Pick your favorite keyword and associate it with the war.

These are just some simple examples showing how easy it is to use the phonetic mnemonic system to more easily memorize facts. Try making up some on your own.

Stress is a mental or emotional condition that occurs in response to external influences. All organisms on earth respond to stress in physical and physiological ways. When an antelope is being chased by a lion, it is under stress and it experiences certain physiological changes such as an increased heart rate that help it escape the danger. To conserve energy, the antelope also turns off certain functions that are unnecessary for survival, such as digestion, reproduction and the immune system. People react in the same way to stress, which is why we can develop high blood pressure, ulcers and other illnesses. The only difference is that in most cases the stressor in our lives is not going to eat us for dinner.

Stress has a large impact on our ability to think creatively and to form strong memories. When you are worried about something, your mind wastes energy on the worry and becomes inefficient at working towards a solution to the problem. We have a tendency to jump to conclusions and rush ahead in order to get the stress out of our lives. People under stress rarely step back and try to explore their options.

We have several relaxation techniques that can be used to deal with stress and continue to think creatively.

One of the first steps for preparing to have lucid dreams is to start keeping a dream journal. Any time that you remember a dream, write it down in your journal. Even if it's just a fragment of a dream or a lingering feeling, write it down. The journal will help you notice what your dreams are like. You will probably find that certain things reoccur in your dreams on a regular basis. These things are called "dreamsigns" and with practice you can learn to recognize dreamsigns while in a dream and then become lucid.

Most people remember very few dreams. In fact, it's quite possible that you have already had a lucid dream and not remembered it! Keeping a dream journal next to your bed will improve your ability to remember dreams. Get into the habit of lying in bed for a few minutes after you wake up and try to remember any dreams that you might have had.

Once you are able to recall at least one dream per night, you will have a good chance at having a lucid dream.